![]() Plants require mostly blue and red light for photosynthesis, but for flowering, infrared light is also needed. If artificial light is the only source of light for growing plants, the quality of light or wavelength, must be considered. Incandescent lights produce a great deal of heat and do not use electricity very efficiently. Therefore, protect plants from too much direct sunlight during summer months.Īdditional lighting can be supplied with either incandescent or fluorescent lights. When a plant gets too much direct light, the leaves become pale, sometimes burn, turn brown and die. Excessive light is as harmful as too little. However, plants require some period of darkness to properly develop and should be exposed to light for no more than 16 hours per day. Increased light duration allows the plant to make sufficient food to survive and grow. Increasing the time (duration) plants are exposed to light can be used to compensate for low light intensity, as long as the plant’s flowering cycle is not sensitive to day length. Some plants only flower when days are longer than 11 hours (long-day plants), while others are not sensitive to day length at all (day-neutral plants). Poinsettias, kalanchoes and Christmas cactus flower only when days are 11 hours or less (short-day plants). Reflective, light-colored surfaces inside a home or office tend to increase light intensity, while dark surfaces decrease light intensity.ĭay length or duration of light received by plants is also of some importance. Other factors such as curtains, trees outside the window, weather, season of the year, shade from other buildings and window cleanliness also effect light intensity. A southern exposure is the warmest, eastern and western are less warm, and a northern exposure is the coolest. Eastern and western exposures receive about 60 percent of the intensity of southern exposures, while northern exposures receive 20 percent of the intensity of a southern exposure. Southern exposures have the most intense light. Window direction in a home or office affects the intensity of natural sunlight that plants receive. Light intensity rapidly decreases as the distance from the light source increases. ![]() The light intensity received by an indoor plant depends upon the nearness of the light source to the plant. Plants can be classified according to their light needs, such as high, medium and low light requirements. A similar plant grown in very bright light tends to be shorter, better branches, and have larger, dark green leaves. Generally speaking, plants grown in low light tend to be spindly with light green leaves. Light intensity influences the manufacture of plant food, stem length, leaf color and flowering. When determining the effect of light on plant growth there are three areas to consider: intensity, duration and quality. Light energy is used in photosynthesis, the plant’s most basic metabolic process. The rate of growth and length of time a plant remains active is dependent on the amount of light it receives. Light is an essential factor in maintaining plants.
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